Sermon Central
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Relationship Series
Contributed by Shawn Drake on Aug 7, 2003 (message contributor)
Summary: This is the 3rd sermon in the series "God’s Desire".
Series: God¡¦s Desire [#3]
RELATIONSHIP
Introduction:
1. What does God desire? That is the question we have been looking at in this series. God desires fellowship with His creation and that was broken because of sin, God sent Jesus to this earth to become our sacrifice so that fellowship could be restored. When we accept God¡¦s gift of salvation, we are made alive. We were dead in our sins, but given new life through Jesus Christ. We no longer belong to ourselves, but to God. This is another desire of God, that we follow Him. If Jesus died for all sins, why would it matter if we follow Him? Why would it matter if we sin?
2. When you ¡§boil it all down¡¨ all of the Christian life can be summed up by this word, ¡§relationships¡¨. There are three areas of relationships for Christians: Their relationship with God, their relationship with Christians, and their relationship with ¡§lost¡¨ people.
3. There is one thing that hinders all relationships, sin.
„« Sin hinders your relationship with God because it places a distance between you and God. Now understand, you cannot lose your salvation, but it hurts the relationship. Ever felt like God wasn¡¦t listening? How about not wanting to pray or read the Bible? You have allowed sin to hurt your relationship.
„« Sin hinders your relationship with other Christians. Sin is selfish and how can you love others as you love yourself when you are focused on self? You can¡¦t.
„« Sin also hinders your relationship with lost people. We are to show them through our lives what Christ has done for us and can do for them. Do they see Jesus or sin in your life?
Since sin is the problem, what should we do? There are three ways we can deal with sin and how you deal with sin will affect your relationships.
1 John 1:5-6, 8, 10; 2:4
Cover Them Up
1. When a person is saved they are called out of the darkness. They were children of the darkness, but are now children of the Light. Those who do wrong hate the Light and when Light shines in on our lives, it reveals everything. Light produces life, growth, and beauty; but sin is dark. Darkness and light cannot exist in the same place. If you are walking in light, the darkness is gone and if you hold onto sin the light is gone. I am not saying you lose your salvation. What you have lost is how you spiritually appear to the ¡§lost¡¨. There is no gray area when you are discussing sin.
2. How do Christians cover up their sins? By lying. We began by lying to other Christians because we want them to think that we are spiritual and then we begin to lie to ourselves so we think that we are not the problem. Once you have convinced yourself, then you begin to lie to God. How do you lie to God? You act like your perfect and when God tries to correct you through the Word, a sermon, study, etc¡K you act as if that was not for you. If you find yourself criticizing instead of being convicted you are probably being controlled by sin.
3. The result of covering up your sins is that the Word no longer helps you grow, therefore your relationship with God is damaged; which results in a loss of Christian character. Another words that Christian looks, talks, and acts like a lost person. We can try to cover up our sins but we know that God knows every move we make. What should we do with our sins?
1 John 1:7, 9; 2:1-2
Confess Them
1. John tells us that Jesus Christ is our Mediator and the One that has died for our sins. We must look at these two things that Christ does.
2. God is holy and just and must punish sin; but through Jesus Christ¡¦s sacrifice we can be justified. Jesus Christ is our Advocate if we allow Him first to be our Savior. Jesus also represents us from Heaven. When we sin Jesus is our Mediator. Because He paid the ultimate price for us, He has become the bridge to God the Father. This is why we can go into God¡¦s Holy presence.
3. Since Jesus is in Heaven as our Advocate, there is only one thing we are asked to do with our sins. That is to confess them. What does it mean to confess your sins? It literally means to say the same thing about that sin as God does. See, your not just admitting sin, you are judging that sin. If you do that, then God forgives it and forgets it. This does not mean that God condones sin. This brings us to the third way to deal with sin.
